My nephew recently received a traffic offence notice, dated Sept 27, for reportedly driving his bus in a disorderly and careless manner without due regard for the safety of other road users.

The penalty was a fine of $180 and six demerit points.

I accompanied him on Oct 6 to the Traffic Police headquarters to make an appeal. I asked for picture or video evidence and asked why no traffic police officers had booked him at the point of the offence.

I was appalled by the reply I received from a female officer who said that the Traffic Police do not need to have visual evidence or confront the offending driver, as long as the officer concerned has witnessed the supposed act and has written it into his log book.

She said that the same had been done decades ago when camera evidence was not available.

We now have speed-trap and surveillance cameras and mobile police patrols on the roads, which are good systems to nab errant motorists.

But I hope the Traffic Police can enlighten the motoring public as to whether it is true that a motorist can be simply charged for an offence without any evidence, just based on the words of the officer.

If this is so, I would be very disappointed, as motorists will have no recourse whatsoever in challenging a one-sided Traffic Police report.

I have always believed that any wrongdoing must be backed by solid evidence so that the party guilty of an offence is rightfully punished.

Wong Yuen Foh